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Raymond Jaravaza, [email protected]

NOKULUNGA Mlalazi, a seasoned airtime vendor, has been a fixture at Nkulumane Complex in Bulawayo for over two decades. This red-brick oval shopping centre, built in the late 1990s by Old Mutual, has seen a steady stream of businesses come and go.

From furniture stores and banks to supermarkets, clothing retailers and restaurants, the complex has housed a diverse range of tenants. However, due to the high turnover of businesses, many rental spaces are vacant. Mlalazi’s long tenure at the complex provides a unique perspective on the challenges and changes it has faced over the years.

Nkulumane Complex is just one of many buildings in Bulawayo slowly turning into white elephants – expensively built structures that have either been abandoned or are not fully utilised. Chronicle conducted a snap survey of such in Bulawayo, both in the central business district and the western suburbs that were once vibrant and bustling but have now been deserted by businesses.

The first stop was at Nkulumane Complex, where the news crew observed that half of the shops are empty. Mlalazi is not surprised by the empty space at the shopping mall.

“In the early 2000s, when I started selling airtime and soft drinks here, outlets such as OK and TM supermarkets used to operate here. Residents of Nkulumane, Nketa, Magwegwe and Pumula did not have to go into town for shopping. Everything we needed was available here. Even long-distance travellers did their shopping here before boarding buses to their various destinations.

“There was a time when Foundation College, which had a lot of students, used to be here, but they left after a few years,” said Mlalazi. A long-distance bus terminus is just a stone’s throw from the shopping centre. A huge space that used to house OK Supermarket remains empty, many years after the giant retailer vacated the mall. The few pockets of space that are still occupied include butcheries, hardware shops and a sports betting house, clothing and furniture shops.

The one end of the shopping mall that still attracts a sizeable number of shoppers is the space occupied by Choppies Supermarket, where illegal money changers also solicit business from shoppers.

Lewis Mutema, an estate agent in the city, explained how space is sold in a shopping mall like the Nkulumane Complex. “The bigger the space, the more expensive the rentals because space is charged per square metre. Businesses typically want to operate in an area with a lot of human traffic and where competition is not too stiff. It’s rare to find two huge supermarkets in the same shopping mall, so most businesses prefer an area frequented by a lot of people, yet that business remains the first choice for shoppers,” said Mutema.

A comment could not be obtained from Old Mutual, the owners of Nkulumane Complex. In the city centre, an immaculate building with a fresh coat of white paint is also struggling to retain tenants. Most of the office space in the multi-storey Fidelity Building is empty.

The same applies to the tallest structure in Bulawayo, the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) Building, which has over the years been hit by the departure of businesses.

Notable tenants at NRZ include the Rural Electrification Fund, Lupane State University and a number of private colleges. Businesses with free funds have begun buying property on the periphery of the city centre, converting former homes into offices.

For instance, security firm Nokel Security purchased a property on Second Avenue and Jason Moyo, renovated it and turned it into offices. “Office space in the city centre is expensive, so companies are finding ways of moving away from the central business district to find affordable office space elsewhere,” said Mutema.

Egodini taxi rank is also slowly turning into a white elephant as kombis and vendors desert the newly constructed facility, citing low business and high rentals for vendors and parking fees for vehicles.

Vendors at Egodini pay US$90 per month, but they say that amount is very hard to make at the end of the month, let alone make a profit. “We are not allowed to sell cooked food, a favourite with kombi drivers, conductors and rank marshals, but vendors who operate outside the rank sell the food yet they don’t pay monthly rentals.

“The city council should reduce monthly rentals so that we can also stay in business,” said Nompilo Ncube, who sells fruits and soft drinks at Egodini.
Kombi drivers complain that passengers don’t come to Egodini but are instead “hijacked” by pirate commuter omnibuses that operate at the illegal kombi rank along Sixth Avenue.